MARCH 6, 2025 | NEWS | By Olivia Link
Rosalie Rodriguez has only occupied the College Diversity Officer position since last August. Still, she has experienced more curveballs over these past few months than in her entire 25 years of DEI work in higher education.
Rodriguez has been with Colorado College since 2020, overseeing the Butler Center and taking charge as the Senior Associate Dean of Students. Rodriguez has spent decades in the field as part of the Office for Institutional Equity and Belonging. She defines DEI in three parts: diversity is representation, having a metaphorical seat at the table; equity comes from people having access to the spaces they want to be in; and inclusion and belonging ensure that people not only have access to those spaces but feel like they have equal access to decision-making power.
President Trump’s first months in office have been busy ones, as his administration takes steps to roll back initiatives protecting marginalized groups. Rodriguez describes this time in her office as chaotic; the pace of presidential executive orders has been difficult to keep up with, as has the pace of judicial injunctions challenging them. She describes her work currently as “spending time understanding the real and potential impacts of this legislation and communicating that to the campus.”
Rodriguez and her team are working closely with campus attorneys and delving into updates from the Department of Education. Another stressor comes from the tension between wanting to reassure students and maintaining honest and clear communication. She wants to emphasize understanding without creating panic, and her office has guaranteed support and resources to those affected by Trump’s decrees.
Although it is unclear exactly how these decrees would impact the curriculum here at CC, Rodriguez believes it is not an immediate concern. Trump’s original executive orders regarding the teaching of Critical Race Theory have carve-outs for academic freedom, and a federal judge has blocked the acts over freedom of speech violations.
She does not expect it to impact admissions either, as CC’s policies comply with Students For Fair Admissions. According to new guidance from the Department of Education, programs focused on particular cultures would not automatically be illegal, as long as they are technically open to all students. Rodriguez explains that CC already followed similar guidelines.
Rodriguez and her office have already attended three workshops about protecting undocumented and international students. She says their main goal is “increasing agency by making sure people understand their rights.” As students at a private institution, FERPA protects CC students’ information, and all law enforcement agencies must go through Campus Security first. This means that just like with a private home, students in residence halls are not obligated to open doors for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. If the proper documentation has been attained, Campus Police will escort them. Rodriguez has also offered local immigration and legal resources to those who need them.
In response to Trump’s orders, the NCAA ruled that trans women are no longer allowed to compete as women on Feb. 6. Rodriguez and her team have been in close contact with athletics to navigate how this will impact CC, which has both DI and DIII sports competing in four different conferences.
“The NCAA itself has acknowledged that there are fewer than 10 trans athletes out of more than 500,000 athletes, and so we’re talking about a very, very small population,” Rodriguez said. “What concerns me when we talk about these executive orders is the language that is being used. Regardless of the number of people impacted, this language is certainly harmful to a much broader array of people who are being told essentially that they are not valid.”
She believes that CC needs to remind its athletes and all students that they belong here on campus.
Rodriguez says that the administration’s job is to protect students and to foster an environment where people can be the best version of themselves. In addition to her Institutional Equity and Belonging newsletter, the office is considering ways to make its pedagogy more inclusive and has hired a new Assistant Vice President for Institutional Belonging to build capacity around these topics.
Rodriguez’s final message echoes this sentiment: “Even if none of these executive orders go into place, the harm of dehumanizing someone or telling them that they’re inherently criminal or untrustworthy has already been done. That in and of itself needs to be counteracted by all of us, not just in our words, but in our actions.”